The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to the use of photoacoustic spectroscopy in patient monitoring.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, medical practitioners often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring patient characteristics. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modern medicine. For example, clinicians may wish to monitor a patient's blood flow to assess cardiac function. In particular, clinicians may wish to monitor a patient's cardiac output. The determination of cardiac output may provide information useful for the diagnosis and treatment of various disease states or patient abnormalities. For example, in cases of pulmonary hypertension, a clinical response may include a decrease in cardiac output.
Accordingly, there are a variety of clinical techniques that may be used for analyzing cardiac output. In one technique, an indicator, such as a dye or saline solution, is injected into a circulatory system of a patient, and information about certain hemodynamic parameters may be determined by assessing the dilution of the indicator after mixing with the bloodstream. However, such techniques involve invasive artery catheters for detecting the dilution of the indicator. Other techniques may involve radioactive indicators that are easier to detect, but expose the patient to radioactivity and involve expensive detection equipment.